RAIL EVOLUTION SHOWCASING THE LATEST INNOVATIONS IN THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY ADVERTISING FEATURE
Industry & Technology Editor ROGER FORD finds that the railway industry has not been slow in taking up innovation and in some areas is ahead of other modes
There is a current tendency to see railway technolog0y as backward, inbred and both resistant and slow to adopt innovations from other industries. Tens of millions of Government funding are being spent on research aimed at encouraging innovation. In some cases this is simply reinventing the wheel; in others, discarded concepts attract new sponsors, only to be found wanting again.
In fact, the basic requirements of the railway are well established and the possibility of some radical invention changing these basics is rare. Rather, experience has shown that innovation enables an existing function to be carried out more safely, effectively, efficiently or economically.
